Alternative heated grip controller - Page 2

Beezer · 07-21-2012, 08:58 PM

heres my home made controller for my heated vest, good for 15A.

3055 NPN transistor on a strip of aluminum screwed to the battery box:

500 ohm pot to control the base current:

it turns on when I plug in the vest, turns off when I pull the cord. the cord rolls up on top of the air box when not needed. I had the parts so cost was zero.... I'd guess $10 if you had to shop.

mbfj40 · 07-23-2012, 12:26 AM

Hi You-all,
I went the easy route. I'm using a Gerbings Two channel controller that's supposed to run your heated jacket and pants. I made up a mount off of the mirror perch on my G650XCountry and velcro'd it to the mount. No issues with the velcro so far, my thoughts were to provide a "safety breakaway" in case of a mishap. I positioned it so I can reach over easily with my thumb and adjust it on the fly. I run the bottom control for my heated grips (sourced from a Buell Ulysses) and the top control has a pigtail that comes out in front of the seat to hook up to my heated jacket. Works awesome and is 100% variable from full off to full on. Little built in led lamps blink fast or slow depending on yer heat settings.
Going strong for he last 18K miles in all weather. Bike's just back from a ride and pics taken prior to washing.
mike

reepicheep · 01-18-2013, 09:25 AM

Just stumbled on this thread...

I'm on "rev 4" of a design for a cartridge heater controller now that uses PWM, but does so based on a closed loop temperature sensor. Its all micro controller based, so it is quite clever about how and when it runs.

Rev 3 is on my Uly now and working great, but I scaled it all down to just fit in the bars, and that made the whole mess a bit fragile and fussy. Rev 4 is going to be a box back outside the bars (like rev 1 and 2 were), but with an LCD showing information... just cause I can. :)

The circuit is pretty much done, the PC board is mostly laid out, and I have most of the code in various places from previous versions, I just have to do some mixing and matching.

Packaging it is my big blind spot now. Weatherproof enclosures that look nice and work well but that don't break the bank are hard to come by... particularly now that i am putting a 16x2 LCD display back on it.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. Its currently under $20 of electronics parts, so a $30 enclosure seems crazy, but maybe that's just the reality of the situation.

MotorradMike · 01-20-2013, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reepicheep

If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. Its currently under $20 of electronics parts, so a $30 enclosure seems crazy, but maybe that's just the reality of the situation.

If it were me I'd be happy to spend the $30 just to make it look good.
If you consider your time ...

Have you considered getting a 3D print done?
I bet there are companies happy to do the first one free.

bwalsh · 01-20-2013, 10:40 AM

First off, Spudrider and ThumpnRed get all the credit for these ideas. I'm just passing along the info. I'm by no means an electrical expert. Challenged is more the correct term so if my terms are quite correct...oh well.

Some of us on the XRL thread in thumpers have been experimenting with different options(well I was just following along and copying them) instead of using the ceramic resistor and switch on the Tusk brand heated grips we all bought when they were on sale for $9.99!

A couple of us added a relay so the battery wouldn't drain if we forgot to turn them off.

One option, I used along with the relay, was to use a heavy duty car signal flasher to replace the resistor. No heat to melt anything and would take abuse where as the resistor wouldn't.

Then Spud found another option. We are getting ready to try this dimmer in place of the resistor/flasher and the switch. I'm going to velcro it to the dash so I'll be able to slide my finger along the knob to dial in a comfortable level. Spud has checked to make sure it can handle to power.

I'll report back on his findings as I'm going to wait a while to install the dimmer on my set up.

HaChayalBoded · 01-29-2013, 07:21 AM

Hey duck, where did you find that super tiny PWM? Or is that the same as the one in the white box and I'm just not seeing it correctly?

Quote:

Originally Posted by duck

I just bought a small PWM on Fleabay and built it into a factory switch blank.

With an LED of course:

bwalsh · 01-29-2013, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaChayalBoded

Hey duck, where did you find that super tiny PWM? Or is that the same as the one in the white box and I'm just not seeing it correctly?

From post #10

Quote:

Originally Posted by duck

The whole box wouldn't fit under my dash pad so I removed the controller potentiometer, soldered some longer wires onto it and painted it with epoxy to "waterproof" it. Then I hid the rest of it in my fairing.

This was when I first installed it. I've since replaced the controller knob with one from Warn-n-Safe 'cuz it looks nicer.

01-20-2013, 10:40 AM	#20
bwalsh Beastly Adventurer Joined: Jan 2009 Location: Hell town Oddometer: 7,730	cheap heated grips...that work! First off, Spudrider and ThumpnRed get all the credit for these ideas. I'm just passing along the info. I'm by no means an electrical expert. Challenged is more the correct term so if my terms are quite correct...oh well. Some of us on the XRL thread in thumpers have been experimenting with different options(well I was just following along and copying them) instead of using the ceramic resistor and switch on the Tusk brand heated grips we all bought when they were on sale for $9.99! A couple of us added a relay so the battery wouldn't drain if we forgot to turn them off. One option, I used along with the relay, was to use a heavy duty car signal flasher to replace the resistor. No heat to melt anything and would take abuse where as the resistor wouldn't. Then Spud found another option. We are getting ready to try this dimmer in place of the resistor/flasher and the switch. I'm going to velcro it to the dash so I'll be able to slide my finger along the knob to dial in a comfortable level. Spud has checked to make sure it can handle to power. I'll report back on his findings as I'm going to wait a while to install the dimmer on my set up. __________________ 2004 XR650L 1992 Specialized Stump Jumper FS NWVA TAG NWVA TAG MAP RTE THREAD & IN LIST

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07-21-2012, 08:58 PM	#16
Beezer Beastly Adventurer Joined: Oct 2004 Location: Anchorage, formerly Spenard (hub of the universe) Oddometer: 4,442	heres my home made controller for my heated vest, good for 15A. 3055 NPN transistor on a strip of aluminum screwed to the battery box: 500 ohm pot to control the base current: it turns on when I plug in the vest, turns off when I pull the cord. the cord rolls up on top of the air box when not needed. I had the parts so cost was zero.... I'd guess $10 if you had to shop.

07-23-2012, 12:26 AM	#17
mbfj40 Gnarly Adventurer Joined: Apr 2007 Location: Modesto, Ca. Oddometer: 152	Hi You-all, I went the easy route. I'm using a Gerbings Two channel controller that's supposed to run your heated jacket and pants. I made up a mount off of the mirror perch on my G650XCountry and velcro'd it to the mount. No issues with the velcro so far, my thoughts were to provide a "safety breakaway" in case of a mishap. I positioned it so I can reach over easily with my thumb and adjust it on the fly. I run the bottom control for my heated grips (sourced from a Buell Ulysses) and the top control has a pigtail that comes out in front of the seat to hook up to my heated jacket. Works awesome and is 100% variable from full off to full on. Little built in led lamps blink fast or slow depending on yer heat settings. Going strong for he last 18K miles in all weather. Bike's just back from a ride and pics taken prior to washing. mike

01-18-2013, 09:25 AM	#18
reepicheep Gnarly Adventurer Joined: Sep 2006 Location: Lebanon, Ohio Oddometer: 226	Just stumbled on this thread... I'm on "rev 4" of a design for a cartridge heater controller now that uses PWM, but does so based on a closed loop temperature sensor. Its all micro controller based, so it is quite clever about how and when it runs. Rev 3 is on my Uly now and working great, but I scaled it all down to just fit in the bars, and that made the whole mess a bit fragile and fussy. Rev 4 is going to be a box back outside the bars (like rev 1 and 2 were), but with an LCD showing information... just cause I can. :) The circuit is pretty much done, the PC board is mostly laid out, and I have most of the code in various places from previous versions, I just have to do some mixing and matching. Packaging it is my big blind spot now. Weatherproof enclosures that look nice and work well but that don't break the bank are hard to come by... particularly now that i am putting a 16x2 LCD display back on it. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. Its currently under $20 of electronics parts, so a $30 enclosure seems crazy, but maybe that's just the reality of the situation.